Fairy tale No. 1. Return to the civilized world Myth is opium for the elite. Before us is the basic myth of the Kremlin ideologists. For a thousand years we have not lived like this. In 988 they converted to Christianity. They fenced themselves off from the West with Orthodoxy and socialism. Dog knights were drowned in Lake Peipsi. They drove

What is “civilization”? For the Greek, the word “civilized” means tamed, processed, grafted. A civilized person is a “grafted” person who vaccinates himself in order to bear more nutritious and juicy fruits. Civilization represents a set of inventions and discoveries aimed at protecting human life, to make it less dependent on the forces of nature, to strengthen it in the world physically by learning its laws - destructive for an ignorant person at the lower stages of development, but as they are studied, they become a weapon of his attack on this world. However, in addition to protecting life, civilization is also called upon to decorate it, increase general well-being, increase the joy of life in a society where there is more fair relations are slowly established between people. It must lead to the flowering of this life in the arts, which all people enjoy together, must develop the humanistic service of man in that real and at the same time imaginary world, which is the world of culture, remade and differently interpreted by the sciences and arts and which in turn has become an inexhaustible source further new creativity.

Here is a chain of many inventions - discoveries - conquests. Let's take some of them at random and use them as milestones for a table of contents that is not yet firmly outlined.

The Hellenic tribes that populated the Balkans in successive waves led a nomadic lifestyle. Tents, weapons - first wooden, then bronze - game and goats. The horse, the fastest of all animals domesticated by man, was already domesticated. These wild tribes lived mainly by hunting. Having settled on a peninsula called Hellas, they began to cultivate the stubborn land. This people remained to the end a predominantly rural people, not an urban one: the Greeks are peasants. Even Athens, in the days of its greatness, remains primarily a market for the villages of Attica. The Greeks grow cereals, plant olive trees, fig trees and cultivate vineyards. They very soon learned to exchange their oil and wine for fabrics made by their neighbors in Asia. Then they dare to set sail on the sea and take their beautiful painted pots of oil and wine to the natives of the northern coast of the Black Sea in order to exchange them for barley and wheat, the demand for which is increasing as the population increases in the newly emerging cities. Specialized agriculture, gradually developing, replaced primitive hunting; meat food began to be replaced by vegetarian food, more appropriate to the climate of the new settlement zone; commercial ties developed, very soon reaching significant proportions - all this increased the well-being of the Greek people and led to communication with peoples more ancient culture, while the Greeks themselves were still very uncouth.

But for this, the Greeks had to undertake another conquest - to conquer the sea, which they began to do at the same time timidly, boldly, and ineptly. They entered their country from the north by land. The Greek tribes roamed the steppes of Asia and Russia for so long, hunting and driving their skinny herds, that they even forgot the name of that vast expanse of water, which is designated by the same word among almost all related peoples of the Indo-European group. For the water space, called in Latin and its derivative languages ​​mare, mer, etc., in the Germanic languages ​​Merr, See, sea and sea, morje in the Slavic languages, the Greeks did not have a word - they did not know what to call it. They had to borrow the name from the tribes that inhabited the territory in which they settled: the newcomers designated the sea with the word thalassa (“thalassa”). It was from these natives, much more civilized than themselves, that the Greeks learned to build ships. Filled at first with a deep fear of the insidious elements, incited by “severe poverty... bitter need and the torment of an empty belly,” as the ancient poets put it, they ventured into the kingdom of waves and winds and led their ships loaded with goods over the depths of the sea. Gradually, at the cost of great effort and losses, they become the most skilled people of antiquity in navigation, surpassing even the Phoenicians themselves.

A people of farmers, a people of seafarers - this is the original appearance and the first steps in the development of civilization of the Greek people.

The conquest of the sea was quickly followed by other conquests. The Greek people master the art of poetically expressing their thoughts and creating images; he explores unexplored areas and opens up vast new things - all this will later be called literary genres. Originally in Greek there is not even a name for them: but even nameless, they bloom in abundance and with unprecedented splendor with incomparable beauty. This language is as living as grass or a spring; it is flexible and capable of expressing the subtlest shades of thought; it can be used to explain the most intimate movements of the heart. It sometimes sounds like bravura music, sometimes like music that delights the ear, sometimes like a mighty organ, sometimes it cries like a thin flute or rings like a village pipe.

All primitive peoples have long worked to the sound of songs or rhythmic phrases, as this makes work easier. Greek poets developed these rhythms extensively, most of which were inherited from ancient folk tunes. At first they created high epic verse, using its noble and varied cadence to glorify the exploits of heroes of the past. Poems of immense size were passed down from generation to generation, the text of which was initially half improvised. These poems were performed in recitative to the simplest accompaniment of the lyre - the delight shared by the listeners contributed to the development of collective feelings of respect for courageous deeds and enterprise. Over time, these vague poems take shape; the completion of this process were those two magnificent works which we still read today are the Iliad and the Odyssey - the bible of the Greek people.

Other poets, linking poetry more closely with music, singing or dancing, drawing inspiration from everyday life people and cities, praising or ridiculing, captivating or teaching, they create satirical, love and civil lyrics. Still others invent theater; in tragedy and comedy they imitate life, but at the same time create it again. Dramatic poets become educators of the Greek people.

While some, with the help of the enchanting sounds of their language, memories of the past, worries and hopes of their present, dreams and seductions of their imagination, created the three main poetic genres of all times - epic, lyricism and drama - others armed themselves with a chisel and carved in wood, and then carved in solid limestone and marble - the best plastic materials on earth - or they cast in bronze images of the human body, that body of incomparable beauty that belonged to both people and gods. These gods, who inhabit the entire world and are hidden in a harsh secret, had to be won over at all costs, made tame. To humanize and civilize them, there was no the best way, how to endow them with the perfect and tangible body of a man or woman. Magnificent temples are erected to the gods, their images are installed in them, but they are given honor under open air. The greatness of the buildings erected for the gods was intended to simultaneously testify to the glory of the cities that built them. Although in all centuries, including the heyday, the Greeks dedicated all the works of their sculpture and architecture to the celestials, these arts, which they adopted from neighboring peoples, nevertheless asserted the ability of man to create beauty from stone and metal.

Simultaneously with the great upsurge that prompted the Greeks in the 7th and 6th centuries BC. e. rush to conquer all the blessings of life, a desire arose to understand the simplest laws of nature. The Greeks want to comprehend the world around us, find out what it is made of and how it is made, and, having unraveled its laws, learn to control them. They invent mathematics and astronomy, lay the foundations of physics and medicine.

For whom are all these discoveries and inventions being made? For other people, for their benefit and pleasure, but not yet for all of humanity. First of all, for residents of the policy, which should be understood as a community of citizens living in one district (several villages with an administrative center) of Greek territory. Within these frameworks, which are still very limited, the Greeks want to create a society that gravitates towards freedom and equalizes its members in political rights. In the most developed Greek city policies, this society is based on the principle of democracy. Thus, the Greeks created the first, still very imperfect, form of democracy.

We have mentioned all the most important conquests, the totality of which determines Greek civilization. They are all aimed at one goal: to increase man’s power over nature, to affirm and strengthen his human essence. That is why very often - and with good reason - Greek civilization is called humanism. The Greek people sought to improve human nature and improve his life.

Since we continue to strive for this even now, the example of the Greeks who did not complete their work, and even their collapse, is worth thinking about for the people of our era.

In the tragedy of Prometheus, the poet Aeschylus divided into several stages the long path of the Greek people from a state of savagery to civilization. He, of course, does not know why or how these helpless and ignorant ancestors could rise to the first stage of knowledge that brought them deliverance. Aeschylus shares with them some of their superstitions: he believes in oracles, like a savage believes in a sorcerer. Aeschylus attributes to Prometheus, the god whom he calls the Lover of Mankind, all the inventions wrested from nature by human efforts.

However, the Benefactor of Humanity and people along with him are not spared from the hatred of Zeus - the “tyrant” of earth and sky, who planned to destroy the proud human race and who did not succeed in this only because Prometheus interfered with him; by this, Aeschylus turns the thinking and acting Friend of People into a daring bearer of that energy with which the human mind constantly struggles, striving to overcome our eternal poverty and helplessness.

27.10.08

From the point of view of a theoretically grounded development strategy for Russia and the whole world, it is extremely important to comprehend and solve fundamental, including very specific, pressing problems such as general questions modern civilization in general and as special, but specifically civilizational problems of a particular country.

Let me give you one example. In the portrayal of a number of influential theorists and in practical activities a considerable number of European institutions modern problems democracies look like this: there are centers modern democracy, where democratic procedures and values ​​have the character of already fully defined, clear models, paradigms, which only require transfer to other, not yet democratized countries; mission of "civilized" countries, their ruling circles, relevant international authorities - simply implement these samples.

It is unnecessary to prove that this position is purely ideological, stubbornly and not always deftly defending the interests, views, approaches of very specific “centers of power” and influence, and in fact - not even of certain countries, but of specific ruling groups. Not to mention the fact that the means, methods, and ways of “implementing” and spreading democracy in practice turn out to be far from democratic and civilized; in the light of the civilizational process, the whole matter looks different. For both in specialized literature and in truly democratic discourse it has already been recognized: democratic practices, forms, procedures are experiencing today, everywhere, including in the so-called civilized countries, a deep and precisely civilizational crisis.

This means, in particular, that modern civilization no longer resigns itself to simply following the formalisms of democracy, to the very widespread and fairly easy emasculation democratic forms, and often with their transformation into a cover, a front sign for an anti-democratic reality.

What has been said, of course, does not imply a rejection of the best traditions and the very forms and procedures of democracy, but only that the agenda modern development the question is raised about a significant, paradigmatic transformation of democracy, its processes, procedures, its values, common to the entire civilization, and - accordingly - about the improvement, in accordance with modern needs and requirements, of the theory of democracy, including its general philosophical premises.

Or another example, from domestic social practice. When strategic or tactical, general or specific, topical problems and tasks are formulated and solved in our country, their understanding and solution are almost never translated into civilizational approaches. And failures, which so often occur in their practical solution and stem precisely from the country’s civilizational backwardness, are almost never comprehended, not assessed in this plane, much less outlined in their systematicity and integrity. Meanwhile, in the case of putting forward any serious all-Russian or regional program, it would be necessary to calculate in advance some “civilization coefficients”, both facilitating and, in particular, hindering the implementation and execution of the planned programs (in the country as a whole, in individual regions or locally level). For the sum of civilizational prerequisites and factors must be determined, “calculated” even in the first place.

I’ll explain why using a very simple and clear example. It is possible - and it is very necessary! – supply new ambulances to villages or small towns, as, thank God, is being done in accordance with the national health care program. But if new cars cannot drive on rural off-road roads, if they break down every now and then due to potholes on the typical streets of Russian small towns, if they are served by half-drunk drivers driving mainly to patients who have been poisoned by burnt vodka, then it is unlikely the much-needed program will achieve its important goals.

In my works, I try to consider more specifically those aspects of the life structure, way of life, and the consciousness of people, which, in my opinion, should be included in the concept of the “civilization coefficient”, and we are talking about both its main, core components, and about the “trifles of civilization”, which in fact are not trifles at all, because the most important thing often depends on them. On them - for example, on bad roads (often literally) - the engine of the most significant, hard-won government reforms and transformations stalls.

What kind of person can be called civilized as opposed to uncivilized creatures, barbarians?

A civilized person is necessarily a hard worker and a creator. The barbarian not only neglects creative work, but at any moment is ready to destroy and spoil what has been created by nature and accumulated by history. A civilized person strives to master the latest means, achievements of labor, its organization, the most effective work skills and knowledge, thus adopting the experience of other people. He thinks, designs, forecasts, critically reflects and constantly improves his activities. Even if he does not have his own scientific and higher technical knowledge, he has interest and respect for them. The barbarian is at least indifferent to all this: if he works, it is in the old fashioned way, at the level of a plow and a sledgehammer.

So, good, effective, creative, intelligent, skilled work, respect for work and proud self-respect for oneself as a worker, an owner - the first group of signs that distinguish a civilized individual. Such an individual cannot afford, neglecting the fundamental principles of civilization, to produce goods that no one needs or are harmful; cannot, is organically incapable of squandering, throwing into the wind what was created not only by his own labor, but also by the efforts of other people. For he respects and protects other people’s labor and property no less than the fruits of his labor and his property.

The second group of characteristics that distinguish a civilized person from a barbarian is associated with the attitude towards freedom, dignity, responsibility - both one’s own and other individuals, countries, and peoples. A person who is an owner is a concept that has long been used with a negative connotation. But the same experience of history teaches that a civilized person is an owner, endowed with freedom, common sense, the ability to make decisions and be responsible for them. The civilized individual, especially in modern conditions, gravitates towards being a democratic individual and a member of a democratic, civil society, because his civic activity is an organic continuation, as well as a prerequisite for free and initiative labor activity.

A civilized person is characterized by natural pride in his nation, people, country, and the desire to serve them with work and talent. At the same time, true civilization is incompatible with an uncritical attitude towards their history and modern life, with the humiliation of other nations and peoples, with nationalist aggressiveness. A civilized person carefully and responsibly chooses the groups, associations, and associations he joins; he categorically and resolutely opposes bloodshed, violence, and destructive conflicts. The barbarian is quite tolerant of the fact that property, freedom, and responsibility have been taken away from him and other people. He experiences a constant desire to take something from other individuals, groups, peoples - only to eat, squander, destroy what he has taken; he willingly joins the aggressive crowd, ready for bloodshed. Dictatorship, totalitarian regimes, and nationalist Black Hundred movements rely on barbarians.

The third group of characteristics that distinguish a civilized person can be attributed to the conditions in which he works and rests, communicates with other people, as well as to the style of his behavior. What distinguishes him from a barbarian, including the modern barbarian mired in savagery, is also his desire and ability to organize his daily life: cleanliness, convenience, the comfort of everyday life, he needs like air. Of course, a civilized individual is a human being and nothing human is alien to him, including emotions.

It is no coincidence that the ancient Greeks so exalted the value of moderation of needs and wisdom of behavior. “Measure is excellent in everything,” said the “Golden Verses” of the Pythagoreans. There is a kind of paradox here. The needs of a civilized person are developed, rich, subtle, and varied. But he at least strives to moderate them, to make them reasonably sufficient. The barbarian, on the other hand, has limited and crude needs. But if he has the opportunity to satisfy them, he knows no measure.

Motroshilova Nelly Vasilievna, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor, Head of Department of the Institute

The editors of "United Fatherland" thanks Artur Kryzhanovsky for providing the material and preparing it for publication